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M O N DAY MAR. 28, 2005 Vol. 126, No. 64

Warm 67° / 50° w w w. s t u d l i f e . c o m

• R E W A R D •

$250 Student Life is offering a $250 reward for information leading to the identification of the individual(s) responsible for the theft of last Wednesday’s newspaper from bins around the Hilltop campus. Please e-mail all information to tips@studlife.com or call (314) 935-6713. Names of tipsters will remain confidential.

STUDENT LIFE T H E I N D E P E N D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F WA S H I N G T O N U N I V E R S I T Y I N S T. L O U I S S I N C E 1 8 7 8

Senate approves Pell Grant resolution n Perkins Loans remain on

bench By Laura Geggel Staff Reporter Pell Grants received a monetary boost last Thursday when the U.S. Senate passed the budget plan for the 2006 fiscal year. In their budget proposal, the maximum Pell Grant loan would be increased by $450 to $4,500 and several federal student-aid programs that the Bush administration nominated to cut would be saved. “I think there is an emphasis [this year] on making college more accessible for the very neediest of students,” said Bill Witbrodt, director of Student Financial Services at Washington University. Currently,

INSIDE

493 students at the University are receiving Pell Grants. Pell Grants, a form of federal aid for lowincome students, are generally awarded to undergraduate students who have not yet obtained a bachelor’s or professional degree. In January, Bush proposed to raise the maximum Pell Grant one hundred dollars each year for the next five years to a total of $4,550. However, six moderate Republicans and all 45 Democratic senators voted to support an amendment for an increased $1.5 billion in Pell Grants sponsored by Senator Robert Kennedy (DMass). Kennedy’s amendment—which also sports a policy of forgiving up to $4,000 in student-loan debt for Pell Grant recipients who graduate within four years—would be fi nanced by closing certain tax loopholes.

Pell Grant Proposals in 2006 Budgets PRESIDENT BUSH

Previous budget would cut funding for Pell Grants

SENATORS

A newly passed budget will provide an increased $1.5 billion to the Pell Grant program, increasing the limit for individual grants by $450 over five years

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

No allotment of additional funds to the Pell Grant program in their proposed 2006 budget

See PELL GRANTS, page 3

ResCollege Olympics

MTV’s ‘Real World’ and ‘Road Rules’ cast visits Wash U By Emily Tobias Senior Photography Editor

Scene reporter Kristin McGrath goes inside Thursday night’s Take Back The Night march.

PAGE 10 Justin Ward puts on his detective hat and investigates last week’s thefts of Student Life. Turn to Forum to see who he views as the “prime suspects.”

PAGE 4 WEATHER FORECAST Tuesday High: 75º | Low: 53º Partly cloudy

Wednesday High: 72º | Low: 50º Chance of rain

Thursday High: 62º | Low: 44º Thunderstorms

INDEX News Forum Sports Scene

1-3 4-5 6 7-10

DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE

WGE faces off against JKL in Ultimate Frisbee at the ResCollege Olympics on Saturday. Lee/Beaumont won the Olympics for the second year in a row.

Senior member of Bush Cabinet on campus By Caroline Wekselbaum Contributing Reporter Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez delivered a speech to a group of students and business leaders in Simon Hall last Thursday, in which he advocated for President George W. Bush’s Social Security proposal. “What the president is doing is leading us to confront the reality of a Social Security system that is fundamentally unsound over the long haul,” Gutierrez said during his speech. “Social security as we know it today will not be there for our children or our grandchildren. In its present form, it is headed for its solvency and we cannot let that happen…” Gutierrez spoke about why the current system is inadequate and the Bush administration’s controversial proposal to replace the current Social Security system with personal retirement accounts. “Some people mistakenly think that [current] Social Security taxes are actually saved in a special account,” Gutierrez stated. “You’ve heard people refer to a Social Security trust fund, which gives the impression that there is a fund of money being accumulated with Social Security taxes. And there is no fund. There are some IOUs sitting in a fi le in Washington. The money has been spent.” According to Gutierrez, Social Security will start paying more money to retirees than it receives by the year 2017. In 2027, the system will be losing $200 billion a year, and in 2041 the system will be “insolvent.” Many Democrats believe that a system based on private accounts will completely overhaul the current system

STUDENT LIFE

and leave future generations saddled with debt. Rep. Sandy Levin, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee, addressed many of these concerns in the Democratic Party’s weekly radio address on Saturday. He noted that President Bush’s proposal stands in the way of more bipartisan efforts. Under the current system, once workers reach retirement age they receive Social Security benefits. The program also offers early retirement, disability and survivorship benefits. The new plan proposes a voluntary system in which persons would divert part of the money they now pay into Social Security to these personal retirement accounts. “Younger workers put some of their payroll taxes into voluntary personal retirement accounts,” Gutierrez explained. “The idea is to give workers a choice to open a personal account that becomes their own. The money can’t be touched unless they decide to do something down the road.” In response to a question of how the new system would accommodate those low-wage workers without the capital to invest, Gutierrez responded forcefully. “The capital comes from Social Security taxes [workers already pay]… I fi nd that argument if not a little bit insulting to be at least very paternalistic. This idea that there are Americans who cannot be trusted with their own money: I think it’s wrong, I think it goes against our values, I think it goes against our beliefs, I think it goes against individual accountability,” he said. In his remarks to Student Life, Gutier

One Brookings Drive #1039 #42 Women’s Building St. Louis, MO 63130

See GUTIERREZ, page 3 Newsroom: (314) 935-5995 Advertising: (314) 935-6713 Fax: (314) 935-5938

Joking, gossiping about other cast members and reflecting about life on television were just a few of the themes of last Friday’s Q&A with four members of the cast of “The Real World” and “Road Rules,” who were brought to campus by the Campus Programming Council (CPC). Approximately 200 students were in attendance at the Gargoyle to gain some inside information from four participants in “Real World” and “Road Rules” television shows. Cast EMILY TOBIAS | STUDENT LIFE members included Abram from “Road Rules MTV’s “Real World” and “Road Rules” cast South Pacific,” Rachel members (from right) MJ, Rachel and Cameran from “Road Rules Cam- speak to students at the Gargoyle on Friday. pus Crawl,” Cameran from “Real World San from hookups on the show, the Diego,” and MJ from the most friendships and the idea of being recent “Real World,” held in Phila- on television in general. MJ ofdelphia. fered an interesting view on this Sophomore Shilpa Rupani, the subject. large events co-chair for CPC, was “If you do something on fi lm, the force behind bringing the cast you did it,” MJ told the crowd. members to campus. She said that “You know there is one thing in she brought the idea to one of the life that’s not going lie and that’s fi rst meetings of the year and has the video camera. So if you hit been working on it since. somebody or you say something The official Q&A session began to somebody else, you said it. with the cast members talking Now they [the MTV producers] candidly about Friday’s issue of can make it look a lot worse than Student Life. it was or they can make it look not “Real quick, you’re wearing a quite as bad and they can kind of sorority shirt [pointing to a girl splice it together, but you have in a Pi Phi sweatshirt]—it wasn’t to be honest with yourself when you? It wasn’t you? You all know you’re on the show the entire what I’m talking about!” said time, and I learned that.” Abram, referring to the Alpha After the show, the members Phi story. of the audience had a chance to “Yeah, we saw the cover of take pictures and get autographs your paper and it’s like someone from the cast members. defecated [laughter] and then “It was cool to hear about them some sorority girl’s like…” said behind the scenes, [the] hapCameran. penings on ‘The Real World’ and “They passed out in front of ‘Road Rules,’” said sophomore a bunch of…” said MJ, fi nishing Margot Dankner. Cameran’s sentence, while Abram Rupani was also pleased with fi nished MJ’s sentence. the event. “Girl Scouts! Girl Scouts, peo“I was very happy, fi rst off all ple,” interrupted Abram. the seats were fi lled, and people MJ went on to ask the audience who were fans of the show came if the person who defecated was to the event. People were respectin the audience. ful, people enjoyed themselves. It “Is the person who did the was a positive event overall,” said defecation here? If you are here I Rupani. want you on stage,” said MJ. Rupani continued by talking After that, Rupani facilitated about what it was like to be on conversation and moderated the stage with the cast members. discussion by asking questions “I felt really comfortable [on to the cast members. The fi rst stage]. I feel comfortable doing question dealt with how the par- that kind of thing to begin with. ticipants are cast as types. I think the questions were more “I defi nitely think that MTV intelligent than what could have does stereotype a bit when cast- been asked. They had some depth ing. I was the naïve girl,” com- to them. People thought about it,” mented Cameran. said Rupani. “They’re looking for slots to The cast members were each fi ll,” said Abram. paid $1,500 dollars (negotiated Rachel went on to offer some on a case-by-case basis), includinsight on the audition process. ing airfare and hotel. Their con“Another thing I will say, tract also required a meal after for those of you who have tried the event. out—if you have or you want to, Before the show began, Stutry again, because it is true that dent Life had a chance to talk to every season they do match peo- the cast members in the green ple up with a certain dynamic,” room. commented Rachel. Following questions ranged See Page 7 for the interview Editor: editor@studlife.com News: news@studlife.com Calendar: calendar@studlife.com

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